"A
Dollar for Your Soul"A good introduction to
Ponzi™ schemes and the madness of crowds. Based
on a true story about a high-school soul-selling pyramid
scheme,
this story originally appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy
Magazine. A Russian
translationwas done byAndrei
Novikovand published in December
1993 in Yesly ("If") magazine, which has been voted Europe's best
science fiction magazine. Since its circulation in 1993 eclipsed
that of MZBFM,
it appears that far more people have read this story in a Russian
translation I knew nothing about.

I've been trying to understand what makes this guy tick. While some people underestimate him or dismiss him as a
celebrity, he's an effective speaker, good at feeding off the energy of his audiences. He stirs up the crowd by
peppering his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs. Even as he cultivates chaos by playing to peoples' fears
and resentments, he offers himself as the visionary leader who can restore law and order. He paints the present
day as a time of decline and decay and promises to make the country great again, but is vague about his actual plans.

He has been described as an egomaniac who only loves himself; a self-obsessed clown with a strangely scattershot,
impulsive style; a narcissist with a flair for self-dramatization and a "characteristic fondness for superlatives."
His manic speeches raise questions about his capacity for self-control, but he's a shrewd politician, with a
keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people and an ability to instantly analyze and exploit situations.

He's been called "so thoroughly untruthful that he can no longer tell the difference between truth and lies."
He believes in appealing to the emotions - not the reasoning power - of the crowd, with repeated slogans consisting
of accusations, vows of revenge, and promises for the future.

His supporters feel the country needs a strong man who can shake things up. "Why not give the National
Socialists a chance?" a prominent banker said of the Nazis. "They seem pretty gutsy to me."

Environmental
Quizfrom the"Awesome
Possum"video game.Historical note: I
think the bass part of the Awesome
Possum theme song was sung by the late Elmer "Len" Dresslar,
Jr., famous for being the voice of the Jolly Green Giant.

Do
It Like a Penguin
Chapter 7 from Do It Like an Animal: Spice up Your Love Life with Erotic Advice
from the Animal Kingdom

Masterpiece
Helper is a Photoshop plug-in for fixing a variety of common
artistic blunders, such as Monet's blurry images and Escher's mistakes
with perspective. See all the 5-star awards this program has won!